The United States know it by now: They have lost track in Syria. With the downfall of Assad it wanted to weaken Iran. Hand in hand with Saudi Arabia, their closest Arab ally in the Middle East. However, they failed in their undertaking. Instead the U.S. has strengthened its main enemy Al Qaeda. The U.S. has de facto become Al Qaeda’s ally – could it get any more absurd?
It is about time that the U.S. changes its course in Syria. A peaceful and probably democratic solution will only be achieved when the U.S. seeks a dialogue with both sides, with the government and the opposition.
Above all, the United States must prevent that Saudi Arabia and Qatar continue to inflame the tragic fratricidal war with their money and weapons. The entirely non-democratic Saudis and Qataris do not send their weapons to the Syrians in order to foster democracy and freedom. They do not care about the lot of the Syrians. They do not care about the Syrian rebels, either. It is a cynical game, which is played on the backs of the Syrians .
I love Syria, its people, its culture, its landscapes. I suffer whenever someone is senselessly wounded or killed there. Whether he is a Syrian civilian, a Syrian soldier or a Syrian rebel. We should help to end this tragedy. But not with weapons. There isn’t such a thing as a “humanitarian bomb”. „Humanitarian military strikes“ are an invention of the so-called “defense contractors”.
Since the beginning of the serious unrest in Syria I have called upon the U.S. to enter into negotiations with both sides. Even with the dictator Bashar al-Assad. Just like Willy Brandt, J.F. Kennedy, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan all of whom did negotiate with hostile dictators.
My critics have repeatedly and furiously attacked this call. They called for arms shipments to the rebels. Whosoever advocated negotiations, in their eyes was a „dictator`s buddy“. When Willy Brandt and Ronald Reagan negotiated with the leaders of the Soviet Union these kind of accusations were also hurled at them.
The outcome of military approaches to dissolve the Syrian knot is a gigantic human tragedy. The enemies of negotiations – in the West and within the ranks of the rebels – are jointly responsible for the daily deaths in Syria. One must state this truth in all frankness. A wise and consistent strategy of negotiations could have prevented a lot of suffering .
The destruction of chemical weapons in Syria may have given rise to the last opportunity to resolve the Syrian conflict through negotiations. Whoever wants to end the dying of the Syrians, while avoiding an escalating regional and world conflict, must seize this opportunity. If Germany, as requested by Assad, can mediate, then it should do so. It is sad that Foreign minister Westerwelle refuses to do just that, but fortunately his rejection is no longer of any importance. In times of misery one should not reject the hand that reaches out.
In Syria Germany could play an important role as an „honest broker“, and it could do so in some other conflicts in the Middle East, as well. Syria is not the only country that has expressed the desire for German mediation in the recent past. This role would correspond to our growing importance in the world. And unlike the many appeals to join military intervention which are in clear contravention of international law it would constitute a constructive contribution to peace in the world. Because, this peace is under threat.
The conflict around Syria and Iran is now at least as dangerous as the Balkan crisis just before the outbreak of the First World War. Not only because Al-Qaeda has mustered its strongest and extremely successful fighting force of all time inside Syria. I pointed out this danger two years ago and I have been ridiculed a great deal for it for a long time. But beyond that and much more importantly, the interests of all regional powers of the Middle East, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Turkey, the United States, Russia, China and Western Europe are on a collision course in Syria. The Syrian crisis is a world crisis. Just one spark is enough to turn it into a major war.
Almost a hundred years ago it were the armchair strategists who drove the world into a disaster during the Balkan crisis. History repeats itself. War is a boomerang. Eventually it will strike back at us. Much faster than some strategists can imagine.
